Special Symposia

Sponsored Symposia and Showcases

Special Symposia sponsored by Collaborating Societies and Supporters

Click on the organization's name to see more details about their session.

Japanese Vascular Biology and Medicine Organization

Angiogenesis and Regeneration

Monday, October 31 from 4:00-6:00pm

Chairs: Issei Komuro, University of Tokyo and Ralf Adams, Max-Planck Institute for Molecular BiomedicineSpeakers:Yoshiaki Kubota, Keio University Neuro-vascular crosstalk in the developing retinaNathan Lawson, University of Massachusetts Medical School Reassessing ERK in vascular development: a major role for sprouting, but not artery differentiationAkiko Hata, University of California, San Francisco Role of miRNAs in embryonic hematopoiesisKohei Yamamizu, Kyoto University (a JVBMO Young Scientist) Generation of blood-brain barrier model derived from human iPS cells for analyzing drug kinetics and neuro-vascular unitTwo abstract presentations will complete the program

National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

E pluribus unum: The “Vasculome?”

The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is organizing a workshop and discussion forum open to the entire audience of IVBM 2016 to explore the timeliness of creating “The Vasculome,” an integrated, multi-dimensional, multi-scale map of the human vasculature.

Blood and lymphatic vessels are critical for the normal function of all organs in the body. Vascular dysfunction has been implicated in many major systemic and organ-level diseases, yet our understanding of the causal relationships between the local and systemic vascular function, perturbation, and dysfunction remains fragmented. A major challenge is related to the intrinsic heterogeneity of blood and lymphatic vessels, differing in structure, function, and molecular profiles across the body, further combined with individual variations due to genetic, sex-, or age-related differences. In addition, highly specialized investigations continue to occur largely in intellectual and institutional silos. We propose that building the ability to integrate the existing and future pieces of this knowledge puzzle will provide not only a much needed approach for better understanding the vasculature, but also the physiology and pathological modifications of any vascularized tissue/organ, and should help identify novel biomarkers and therapeutic strategies to help close the cardiovascular bench-side to bedside gap.

New investigational and computational tools are currently opening the opportunity for multi-dimensional, multi-scale investigations of the human body, all the way down to the single cell level and all the way up to whole body clinical functional maps. We want to explore if such approaches, including high resolution –omics, functional imaging, etc. might be used to characterize the human vasculature in context, to understand the function and dysfunction of various tissue-vascular units, and whether such knowledge could be used for a personalized approach to detect and treat a variety of diseases associated with vascular dysfunction. While considering the complexity of organizing a multi-dimensional, multi-scale map of the human vasculature, i.e., “The Vasculome,” we became intrigued by the idea of borrowing nature’s design and use the endothelium, which forms a contiguous layer within any blood or lymphatic vessel with clear structural and functional local specializations, as its organizing principle.

Workshop discussions will seek to identify opportunities to address some key enduring challenges in the way of integrating traditional and state-of-the-art knowledge and investigational tools from various areas of vascular biology, including answering specific questions such as:

• What are the challenges remaining in the way of multidimensional investigations (-omics, imaging, physiology) of vascular cells down to the single cell level in their natural microenvironments, including challenges in sampling, in situ technologies, etc.?

• What strategic approaches can be used to integrate biological, technological, and computational advances to produce multiscale, multidimensional vascular maps for the purpose of understanding the complex dynamic short and long range interactions among various vascular cells, and their communications with other cell types within various tissue “vascular units” (e.g., with the brain, heart, kidney, etc.) and at the whole body level?

• Could we perhaps use the endothelium as the organizing principle of the “Vasculome”?

We are looking forward to the vascular community participation and to great discussions during and following this workshop!

Cure HHT

Supported by the Jeffrey A Blevins Fund

Tuesday, November 1 from 4:00-5:00pm

Chair: S. Paul Oh, University of FloridaSpeakers:S. Paul Oh, University of Florida OverviewRong Wang, University of California, San Francisco Notch and HHT mutations share mechanisms in AVM formationHua Su, University of California, San Francisco HHT animal models and their use in mechanistic studies

Korean Vascular Science and Medicine Organization

Ang-Tie System for Vascular Stabilization

Tuesday, November 1 from 5:15-6:15pm

Chair: Gou Young Koh, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and TechnologySpeakers:Hellmut Augustin, University of Heidelberg and German Cancer Research Center Non-endothelial functions of Tie2 Samir Parikh, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School The reciprocal relationship of Tie2 and infections Gou Young Koh, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Therapeutic roles of Tie2 activation in diverse vascular disease models

Lymphatic Education and Research Network (LE&RN)

Lymphatics: At the Crossroad of the Circulation and Immune System

Supported in part by Texas A&M University College of Medicine, Department of Medical Physiology